The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-24
WHY HE WAS DISCHARGED.

AT recent meeting OF the board OF truS-
tees for the Insane Hospital, DR.. Browning,
one of the physicians of the department for
men, discharged. Upon hearing of his
dismissal, number of attendants and en-
| ployes at the hospital presented him with a
| case of fine surgical instruments as recogni-
ton of his ability, and as testimonial of their
regard Inasmuch as DR.. Browning was ad
mittedly competent and we'll liked, it is neces
sary to look further for the cause of his re-
| moval. 1t will be found in the following tes-
timony, given by him before the House in
vestigating committee on the 26th of last
February:
Question: want to ask you if you ever
heard any conversation between Roth assist
ant store keeper) and Hall (store-keeper) re-
garding the butter there with mAggots in it
Answer-Yes, sir in October last, l think it
was.
Q.-What was the conversation? A.-Ihad
been to Halls Office talking to Hall, and Roth
came in and told him there was some butter
out there that had worms in it, and did not
want to unload it-objected to its being taken.
Hall told him the butter was all right, and
insisted that it was acceptable, and ordered
him to unload it. Roth objected again, and
Nall said he had better unload it.
"Q.-That was the extent of the converse
ton, was i'll A.-That was the extent Of the
conversation.
"Q.-Do you know, as fact, what was done?
Al only had the curiosity to look at the
butter with Roth, and found some worms in
it; and two or three days afterward I was in
DIR. Fletcher's laboratory, and he showed me
some of the butter and I told him had seen
it. and asked him what had been done with it.
He said he ordered it back, and had sent the
steward in to buy five hundred pounds of good
butter.
"Q-Doyou know whether that butter went
in the wards9 A.-No, sir, do not. I never
saw it in the male departments Of the wards"
page 1,1O8, Report of the House Commit
tee.)
Not all of the butter was sent back, how
ever. Although DIR. Browning did not see
any of it in the wards of the male depart
ment, it was served on the tables of the fe-
male department. DR.. Sarah Stockton,
physician for the female department, and five
attendants, bore witness to this. DR.. Fletcher
himself carried the butter from the tables to
his laboratory. In his testimony before the
Senate committee he gave description of
the worms which he found in the butter:
Question-Whatk kind of worms were these2
Answer-Not shippers, these were not / have
never seen anything in butter like them
They were from half-inch to three-quarters
of an inch long. with black heads, and the
rest of the body white. Their move
ment was not the skipping movement that
you find In the skipper, but they crawled
along like the ordinary centipede, or thousand
legged worm" page 369, Report of Senate
Committee
No wonder that DIR. Browning has been dis
charged! Anything more cold blooded and
devilsh than the receipt Of such butter can
scarcely be conceived Mr.. Roth, who, as
DR.. Browning testifes protested vehemently
against the acceptance of the butter, has just
been dismissed by the board. Mr.. Hall, who
insisted that it be unloaded and kept, is a
henchman of CDR" Harrison, and still re-
mains the head of the store hou9. The line
is sharply drawn. All whose testimony re-
fected in any way upon the management of
the trustees marked men. Thomas Stew
art, the engineer of the boiler-house, who was
produced as a witness for the board, unex-
pectedly revealed on cross examination, that
six of the new" boilers had been patched on
account of sagging and blisters, and he, also,
has been discharged. 1t is expected that DR..
Fletcher will go shortly. It looks though
the patients will soon be left entirely defense
less in the hands of a constituencies and
merciless gang.